President Bola Tinubu has approved a significant increase in the budget for the Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, raising it from ₦3 billion to nearly ₦20 billion. The move is part of a broader effort to modernize the bureau’s operations and enhance its role in fighting corruption.

 

Chairman of the CCB, Abubakar Bello, made the announcement in an interview with journalist in Abuja. He explained that the budget boost is aimed at overhauling the nation’s outdated asset declaration system and strengthening the bureau’s ability to verify and enforce compliance.

 

Bello emphasized that the CCB’s current asset declaration system is largely manual, relying on paper forms that are expensive to print, difficult to store, and challenging to verify. He pointed out that public servants from various ministries, departments, and agencies often request tens of thousands of forms, but the bureau struggles to meet the demand.

The 2025 budget allocated only ₦70 million for printing forms, which could provide just 50,000 to 60,000 forms for the over 4.5 million public servants nationwide.

 

READ ALSO:

TINUBU INSISTS POLICE MUST LEAVE VIP ESCORTS, ORDERS FULL ENFORCEMENT

 

To tackle this, the CCB adopted a temporary model inspired by Kenya, where asset declaration forms are made available for download on the bureau’s website. While this has improved availability, Bello noted that it does not solve the deeper issue of a largely manual process.

 

In response, the CCB is developing a fully online asset declaration platform, with plans to launch it by the first quarter of 2026. This digital system, which is currently in the advanced stages of development, will allow public servants to submit their asset declarations from anywhere in the world.

 

The platform is set to be a “game changer,” according to Bello. It will be integrated with key government databases, including those of the Corporate Affairs Commission, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), and the Bank Verification Number (BVN) system. This will enable real-time verification of the information provided. Additionally, the system will leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze asset declarations and compare the net worth of public servants at the start and end of their tenure.

The AI system will also flag any unexplained wealth or potential breaches of the Code of Conduct for further investigation.

 

Source: Punch